Allison Williams on How Her Dad Gets Through Her Girls Love Scenes and More Major Moments for Women and TV This Week

It was Thanksgiving all week on TV, and two shows (Marry Me and Modern Family) had gags about women preparing backup turkeys because they were just too scared a dinner would be ruined. Cute, but I think we can do a little better than that—as evidenced by these story lines and headlines.

__Dr. Mindy Lahiri's mentoring backfires__
Mindy Lahiri may refuse to recycle and rank the races in her diary, but she's serious about female empowerment. Which is why she tried to encourage the mousiest girl in her intern group in this week's episode. Unfortunately, said girl turned on Mindy and started hooking up with the star pupil, who in turned filed a sexism complaint against Mindy. This show can turn a PC trope on its head like no other.
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__Elizabeth McCord starts busting skulls on *Madam Secretary*__
"Have a seat, Mr. Castellano. Do you know who I am?" It's on! *Madam Secretary*'s bigger picture has finally come into focus—along with the fact that Tea Leoni's alter ego has guts too steely for someone nicknamed "Bess."
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Alicia Florrick takes care of No. 1

Twas the moment that officially killed the frumpy, wavering Alicia of yesteryear—in the name of her campaign, Alicia told Peter to "zip up your pants, shut your mouth, and stop banging the help." And she was coming from a place of "Mess up my campaign, and I'll mess up your face," not a place of "I may seem tough now, but I'm going to get drunk, watch our wedding video, and cry later." No, sir. Those days are gone.

__Cecily Strong named 2015 White House Correspondents' Dinner host__
If the *SNL* actress had Weekend Update material she never got to use (I still miss her on that desk), now's the time to start polishing it. Strong will follow in the footsteps of Seth Meyers, Conan O'Brien, and others when she entertains the Washington elite in April.
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"There's a special place in hell" rears its head once more

Scandal was full of insanity this week—please, Huck's wife, I know getting your curls that smooth must take up most of your time, but I beg you to spend this winter break reading those files and welcoming him back into your life. But my favorite part of the episode involved Kerry Washington riffing on Portia Di Rossi quoting Taylor Swift quoting Katie Couric quoting Madeleine Albright. You guessed it: "There's a special place in hell for women who don't help other women" is back. Elizabeth North had the nerve to throw that line at Olivia Pope even as she's spying on her. Liv fired back: "There's a special place in hell for women who spout that quote to justify their bad behavior."